My Summer of Adventure

Can you believe that summer is officially over? I don’t know about the rest of you, but this summer was hot, hot, hot. In August and September alone, Atlanta reached 90+ degrees for 38 out of 59 days. That is just ridiculous. I don’t even know what the numbers in June and July was. Don’t get me wrong, I love hot summers, but I am really digging this crisp fall weather that has arrived apparently out of nowhere. Cool mornings turn into warm afternoons and chilly evenings. We can sleep with the windows open and turn off the AC. It’s awesome!

As I say goodbye to summer until 2011, I’ve begun reflecting on some of the cool things I’ve done this summer that I’ve never tried before.

Flying High

The first really cool thing I did was participate in an aerial silks class. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s basically the cool acrobatic stuff you see in Cirque du Soleil where the girls are wrapped in bright-colored silks and flip and twirl through the air.

CGN, JD and I all signed up for this really cool introductory class in Atlanta at Sky Gym. The class was small and we broke into three teams of three or four, and we all learned the basic moves that eventually are woven into the advanced tricks and routines. Watching the instructor made everything look so simple and elegant, when in reality it took some serious core and upper body strength to master the moves. CGN was the best out of the three of us. Apparently JD and I need to work on our core strength just a little. If you do pilates or yoga and have ever done dance, you will love it. Even if you haven’t, like me, it was still a lot of fun!

Dirt in the Skirt

Growing up, we always played softball. I only played one year on an organized team, but constantly played with the neighborhood kids or Little S. This summer, we joined a co-ed adult rec league, and I had so much fun!

I played second base (which scared me at first) and could actually still hit – during one game I actually got 4 RBIs, making me the MVP of the game! :) It’s fun to run around at night playing a game from your childhood with friends, followed by drinks with friends. We weren’t the best, but we enjoyed it so much that we are playing again in the fall. Tonight is our third game, and hopefully we will win!

The best part about playing is coming up with a team name. Ours is pretty ridiculous – Avoid the Clap – which comes from a quote from one of Little S’s and my favorite movies. Do you know what it is?

Floating On

Late in the summer, a group of us decided to rent some floats and spend the afternoon floating down Atlanta’s Chattahoochee River. It’s really chill and so much fun, even though the water is freezing. It’s probably only in the low 60s, even in the summer.

Everyone rents some floats for themselves and their coolers, you string yourself up, and hit the water for a few hours. The first time we went, there were only 6 of us, so we floated in a flower-like formation with our cooler being the center. We drank beers and cider, snacked on chips and grapes, and had an amazing afternoon floating for two hours.

Since it was so much fun the first time around, we decided to go again on Labor Day. That time we had 18 people and probably about 22 floats (including the ones for the coolers), and we opted for the four-hour trip. Since we had so many people, we were able to get a shuttle to take us to and from Little S’s place, so no one had to worry about driving, which was a really good thing because we were all a little tipsy from drinking in the sun all afternoon. I wish we could have taken a picture of our giant formation because I’m sure it was pretty impressive!

Rough Rafting

Sticking tomy theme of new water adventures, a group of us went whitewater rafting in early September. Thanks to Groupon (I love that site) we were able to get a really sweet deal on rafting tickets, so a bunch of us decided to buy them. Since the rafting place was in Tennessee, we opted to make a weekend out of it and rent a cabin. We ended up finding the most amazing cabin in Blue Ridge, GA, about an hour from the rafting spot, and 10 of us headed north for the weekend. It was a random amalgamation of kids (we’re in our 20s and early 30s) and grown ups (the 45+ crowd), but we had a great time.

Our cabin had an amazing view of the mountains, numerous patios (and we all know how much I LOVE patios), and a hot tub. What more could you want?

The morning of the trip, I was pretty nervous. I was convinced that I would fly out of the raft and be washed down the river in the class three and four rapids never to be seen again. Luckily, I stayed in the boat, and I managed to have a ton of fun. It was a little scary because we started and dove right into class four rapids, but after getting rid of the initial nerves and fear, it was such a blast. If you’ve never been before, I totally recommend it. And, the water was a lot warmer than the Hooch!

Smiling while the rapids aren’t too rough

It got a little crazier

The view from our awesome cabin

So, did you go out there and try anything new this summer? Are you planning on getting into something cool in the fall?

Wow – sounds like some fantastic adventures! I didn’t really do anything new this summer – just my usual activities, but that’s okay. And I don’t have anything cool that I’ll be trying this fall as of yet. I really should look into doing something awesome, though.